1. Technical Field
The technical field relates to a technique for connecting between a server device and a client device in a wireless communication network.
2. Description of Related Art
In recent years, as personal computers (PCs) and the Internet have been popularized, it has been possible to access server devices connected to the Internet, using a PC, to view and obtain various types of information at home, at work, or the like.
Moreover, digital appliances such as a television, a hard disk recorder, or the like have been appeared, having wireless communication means and capable of connecting to a network. It has been popularized to connect the television and the hard disk recorder each having such a wireless communication means to a home wireless communication network, and watch and listen to a content recorded on the hard disk recorder as a server device, at the television as a client device remote from the hard disk recorder.
However, in wireless communications, radio waves may be intercepted. This is undesirable when transmitting a content which strongly requires protection of personal information or copyright. Thus, it is important to assure security of a wireless communication connection between the client device and the server device, for preventing leakage and damage of communication information, and preventing leakage of security settings information, and the like.
Among techniques for assuring security when connecting a client device to a wireless communication network, for example, Patent Document 1 discloses a technique for a network system to use an identification and a communication encryption key. Moreover, Patent Document 2 discloses a technique for a wireless ad hoc network to evaluate a response to a registration request message, confirm that no other registration process is being performed, and then perform a registration process using a public key certificate.
However, the conventional techniques described above are troublesome for a user, e.g., since the user's extra operations for assuring security are needed every time the device is connected.
On the other hand, Patent Document 3 discloses a technique for automatic setting of security between an access point and a client device. Specifically, according to Patent Document 3, when the access point is accessed by the client device through a wireless communication, the access point measures radio field intensity, accepts the access if the intensity is equal to or more than a threshold value, determine an encryption key for the wireless communication, and send the encryption key to the client device, thus achieving the automatic setting of the security between the access point and the client device, and accordingly, improving usability.